SPEECH BY CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANGAT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF JA SOLAR ON 23 OCTOBER, 2015

Good morning.It gives me great pleasure to be present here this morning to officiate the opening ceremony of JA Solar Holdings’ first solar cell manufacturing facility in Penang, and in Malaysia. I am proud that JA Solar has chosen this location as its first manufacturing facility launched outside of China.

In recent years, Malaysia has become a frontrunner for solar manufacturers especially from China, and the world. Our strategic location in South-East Asia, favorable tax incentives, highly skilled and educated workers and engineers, reliable industry infrastructure and cost competitive environment make us attractive to high performance solar manufactures like JA Solar.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We believe Penang’s continuous and concerted initiatives to create a business an investment friendly environment together with the support from government related investment and environmental agencies like Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Department of Environment (DOE) and InvestPenang, will help further strengthen Malaysia’s aspiration to become the preferred host to the largest solar industry in the world.

JA Solar Holdings is a NASDAQ listed company, and is one of the world’s leaders in solar cell production and shipments. Today’s launch of JA Solar’s facility in the Bayan Lepas Industrial Park marks yet another milestone the development of Malaysia’s solar energy industry as it will enrich the photovoltaic industry value chain.

JA Solar has invested over RM220 million to produce high performance silicon-based solar cells here. Advanced systems have been installed for manufacturing, environmental management and pollution control. This tier-one company’s stringent manufacturing processes are safe and clean, and do not use any radioactive materials or cadmium which is highly toxic. JA Solar has pledged its commitment to continuously develop environmentally green renewable energy to ease energy shortages as well as preserve the environment.

Another point to note is JA Solar will be providing approximately 700 jobs at this site. The company will also generate new high income jobs in Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) and Technology for many of its workers.

On that note, we congratulate JA Solar on this auspicious occasion and we thank JA Solar for making Penang and Malaysia your investment and manufacturing location of choice.Thank you.

2. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for lending us your support today as we celebrate another significant development for the Penang Free WiFi service in public places.

3. As most of you here are aware, the Penang government launched the Free WiFi Service in public places in 2009. We were the first in the country to offer free broadband access to the public at 750 free wifi hotspots in specific public areas in the island and Butterworth.

4. Our objective was simple – we want to make the Internet easily accessible to everyone at any time. And judging from the number of registered users that we have today, which is about 600,000, I can say that we have achieved our aim.

5. We are indeed very happy that the free WiFi service in public places continues to be so popular, not just amongst Penang residents but tourists as well.

6. Today, six years after the launch, we have gradually increased the number of free WiFi hotspots to 1,560 in the island itself and the mainland, something that the public will be pleased to know, I am sure.

7. In addition to enabling more people access the free service, we have also as recently as February this year, upgraded the bandwidth from 75Mbps to 375Mbps. This piece of good news was welcomed by many as it meant that Internet users can get faster speed of up to 1Mbps. Previously it was 512kbps.

8. This is all part and parcel of the state government’s on-going efforts to make the free WiFi service experience a good one.

9. Today, I am here to share more happy news – you can now enjoy high speed Internet when you use the Penang Free WiFi Service!! Yes, that’s right.

10. 50 high speed WiFi hotspots are now available in the Heritage and KOMTAR areas. The speed that you will be getting is 3Mbps compared to the 1Mbps at the other WiFi hotspots.

11. With the faster speed now at your fingertips, I hope users will be able to do more things better, for example when downloading videos and images. Overall, their web browsing experience will be enhanced at these 50 high speed hotspots. The Penang State Government believes that faster internet or digital broadband speed is a necessary and sufficient condition to become a high-income economy and developed country. Whilst the Communication and Multimedia Minister may prefer lower broadband speeds, this is just like the declaring that we can move forward by going backwards. The Penang State Government intends to showcase a model of faster broadband speed vis-a-vis a slower one as to whether it is the faster Penang version or the slower one that will attain international and intelligent city status which is cleaner, greener, safer and healthier.

12. It is my pleasure to officially launch the 50 high speed 3Mbps free WiFi hotspots in public places in Penang.

13. Thank you all for joining us here today at this special occasion. I hope that you will take the opportunity and be among the first to enjoy the free high speed access.